My starting game experience always revolves around rerolling half a dozen times looking for a decent starting zone near a clay deposit
I strongly believe clay deprived maps are not worth playing whatsoever, not even as a challenge. Raw clay and clay bricks are by far the most consumed product of mineable resources, and while every other resource can easily be sustainably sourced from merchants, clay is the only unsurmountable bottleneck that shows up in every playthrough.